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Wednesday, May 07, 2003
FT.com / Lib Dems seek third Scottish cabinet post Both the SSP and Greens have won the right to representation on the Edinburgh parliament's corporate body, which decides the timing and subject of debates. And both parties, previously one-man-bands at Holyrood, will also claim wider representation on parliament's committees, which in Edinburgh not only vet legislation and monitor the executive, but can also generate new bills.
In policy terms, this is likely to see the SSP pushing hard for reform of Scotland's council tax, which it wants replaced by a far more progressive "Scottish service tax". Mr Sheridan will also press the executive to pledge free school meals.
Even acting alone during the last parliament, Mr Sheridan made an impact. In 2000, a personal campaign to have warrant sales abolished resulted in a members' bill winning parliamentary approval. And the 39-year-old firebrand, who has been imprisoned three times as a result of his political campaigns, narrowly missed having his campaign for free school meals adopted.
Mr Sheridan spoke after his party's breakthrough in the polls of a "new political force being formed" in Scotland. It is not one that either Labour or the Lib Dems, nor for that matter the Scottish nationalists who lost votes to the SSP, will easily be able to disregard. Financial Times
